1) “The Godfather” (1972), 5 p.m., AMC. It’s a slow night for TV series, but a great one for movies. Topping the list is Francis Coppola’s richly crafted mobster epic (shown here with Marlon Brando. It’s No. 2 on the American Film Institute’s all-time list, trailing only “Citizen Kane” … and “Godfather, Part II” (1974) – which follows at 9 p.m. – is No. 32, the only sequel on the 100-movie list. Read more…
Whenever a candidate is chosen – for president, for vice-president, whatever – the impact spreads.
Lives change, people move, careers are stalled or propelled. Reporters try to shrug it off.
“We roll from one assignment to the next,” insisted Kyung Lah (shown here, right, with Jasmine Wright), one of the CNN reporters featured in a new HBO Max documentary. When one candidate she covered dropped out of the presidential primaries, another was available.
“In my case, (Kamala) Harris ended, (Amy) Klobuchar ended.” Lah told the Television Critics Association. “Now (I cover) COVID …. We just roll from one to the next.”
Except sometimes, she can roll back again. A week after Lah said that, Harris was chosen as the vice-presidential candidate; Lah was back to politics, doing CNN comnentary on someone she’s covered. Read more…
1) “Greatest #At Home Videos,” 8 p.m., CBS. As CBS tells it, this is the end – wrapping up a four-week run of videos people made at home, often while isolated. Still, we’ll be surprised if there aren’t more. So far, (a previous moment is shown here), there’s been an endless cascade of bits – sometimes funny, usually fun, occasionally warm – involving people and pets and sheer imagination. And host Cedric the Entertainer keeps asking viewers to send more; we hope this keeps going. Read more…
1) Cake” (FXX) or “Tacoma FD” (truTV), both 10 p.m.. Thursday is supposed to be TV’s funniest night, but not this summer. NBC and Fox shelved their Thursday situation comedies; now CBS has cut its Thursday sitcoms in half (from four to two), to make room for “Big Brother.” At 10 p.m., however, there’s quirky fun: “Cake” has short bits, mostly animated and moslty funny. “Tacoma” is a standard sitcom, with occasional laughs. This week is the OK start of a two-parter, as two long-time friends (shown here) have a dispute that peaks at the Fireman’s Ball. Read more…
As streaming networks battle for viewers, Peacock’s special weapon is comedy.
It has lots of it – new and old, good and bad, silly and satirical. And it has just added more.
In Television Critics Association sessions Monday (Aug. 10), the network announced two topical shows (with Larry Wilmore and Amber Ruffin, who’s shown here during a regular gig with Seth Meyer), an action-comedy (with Will Forte) and a musical-comedy-drama (Tina Fey producing and Sara Bareilles starring). It also discussed three previously announced shows.
And it broke a tradition of sorts: Networks often base series on movies that were box-office hits; Peacock is going the opposite way, ordering eight episodes of Forte’s “MacGruber.” In 2010, it made only $9.3 million in the U.S. … putting it $400 million behind “Avatar” or “Toy Story 3.” Read more…
1) “Agents of SHIELD” series finale, 9 and 10 p.m., ABC. A hugely ambitious effort – seven seasons and 136 episodes, leaping across planets and across time – concludes. Sybil – who got inside the computer system – and Nathanial are close to eliminating SHIELD from ever existing. Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker, shown here in a previous episode), who was killed in one timeline, is back. So are Piper, Davis, Enoch and Flint, in battles to save the world. Read more…
Television has now tied one of its least-desired records: Quickest cancellation of a show.
Viewers watching the CW network at 9 p.m. Sunday suddenly saw a “Supernatural” episode. The scheduled show, “Taskmaster,” had been dropped after one episode.
It ties other shows that were dumped after one outing … or maybe less. “It wasn’t even a full episode,” George Schlatter, the “Turn-On” producer, has said. “One guy canceled us at the commercial break.” Read more…
1) “Greenleaf” series finale, 9 p.m., Oprah Winfrey Network. This passionate series ends with a cascade of emotion. That was triggered at the end of last week’s episode, which reruns at 8; then come the aftershocks, deep and far-reaching. Often, Lynn Whitfield (shown here, earlier in the series) has been bound by the stoic facade of her character (Mae, the matriarch); now she lets loose spectacularly. Problems are confronted, lives are transformed and Charity (Debrorah Joy Winans) sings twice; it’s a great way to end. Read more…
What we all need now, perhaps, is a gorgeous portrait of nature, soothing and serene.
Then again, we might need vampires on the prowl. Either way, the AMC cable networks have it covered; on Friday, they announced plans for:
– “Planet Earth: A Celebration,” at 8 p.m. Aug. 31 on all four channels – BBC America, AMC, IFC and Sundance. It repackages some of the scenes from “Planet Earth II” (shown here) and “Blue Planet II,” adding new narration (by David Attenborough and new music by Hans Zimmer and colleagues; the string parts will be by the BBC Orchestras, with British rapper Dave on piano
– And the return of AMC’s zombie world. Read more…
1) “The Titan Games” finale, 8 p.m., NBC. “Titan” (shown here) has already found its winners, male and female, from its three regions. Now they compete, with one of each eliminated. That leaves two men and two women to reach Mount Olympus and go for the championships. Read more…
Best-bets for July 17: warfare in Cuba, Troy and beyond 
Best-bets for July 16: Red returns; games collide 
Best-bets for July 15: sports plus dumbest delight 
